XPLORx4

Spare tire hanger? Do you mean the one under the truck or the swing-out spare tire carrier behind the hatch? If you mean the latter, you'll have to get a jerry can mount custom fabricated for that.

Hahaha! You might be right.

You do realize that with 1" spacers, you will be at greater risk of overextending your CV axles when you get a front tire off the ground, right?

True, but a coil spring lift DOES increase the front crossmember clearance.

Looks nice! That's probably the most important thing now that you're running such big tires!

My GR2's have been fine for many years. I'd have to check, but I think they have about 50,000 miles on them, and they're still fine. (FWIW, my OEM struts never leaked either.)

I agree with what herm said also. Go for the AC lift. It'll transform your truck. I have personally helped 2 members install AC lifts on their trucks, and the owners were very impressed with the difference the lifts made on their their trucks appearance and handling. If you're worried about error lights with manual hubs, you could try simply removing the drive flanges and drive around for a couple of miles (only in dry weather!)! to simulate what having unlocked hubs would be like. Refer to Photos 2 through 8 to remove the drive flanges. As for sliders, yeah your current side steps will never bear the weight of the vehicle. As herm said, you can actually use the sliders to your advantage when you know they will protect the body. What do you think is supporting the right side of my truck here? (Hint: it's NOT the tires!)

That's why you need a set of sliders that stick out a bit more:

Wow. Interesting! Someone not affiliated with the online R50 community who made his own subframe drop! :o Who'dafiggered? Well, it's not SAS, or I would probably be taking a roadtrip out to visit this guy to ask him a few questions!

Cool. I guess if you don't care about having a functional odometer (for total miles on the vehicle), the SGII is a pretty good alternative to replacing the instrument cluster!

A while ago, I looked at various full-featured OBDII diagnostic tools for my PocketPC PDA, including Digimoto, Autotap, Scantool, Auterra, and AutoEnginuity. I ultimately decided to go with the AutoEnginuity product, as it seems the most robust and has excellent customer service. I can use it in both my Pathfinder (OBDII protocol) and my Mazda (CAN protocol). I would never consider using it on a daily basis, though. Besides, I don't have a carputer.

The OBDII connector is a D-shaped connector about 3/4" x 1-1/2", and is located under the dashboard below the steering column. It's pretty easy to spot. The SGII plugs directly into the OBDII plug, and immediately establishes a connection. It gets its power from the OBDII plug.

Yeah, it's worth mentioning that OBDII was created essentially for emissions-control diagnostics, and not much else. Whenever you get a CEL, it has to do with something that affects emissions controls or driveability (which indirectly affects emissions). Information like transmission temperature is not monitored by OBDII. However, as Derrick mentioned, the Nissan CONSULT diagnostic tool has access to all of the control modules, including the PCM and TCM. But that tool is quite expensive, and isn't really designed for daily use while driving like the SGII is. Since I've been using the SGII to monitor ECT (engine coolant temp), I thought it might be interesting to use the regular temperature gauge in the cluster to monitor AT temp. However, the gauge is pretty inaccurate, staying in the middle between about 175°F and 225°F. That's just not accurate enough for AT temp.

Numerically higher ratios (lower gears) are better for larger tires, so 4.636 is better than 4.363.

I paid $1000 plus $275 for powdercoating. However, the price I paid is not indicative of what others would cost, since mine was the prototype. A production run of this bumper would likely be less, but the price per unit would drop with multiple orders.

Unfortunately, AT temp or t-case temp is not something that the PCM provides via OBDII, so even if the SGII could display it, it would be blank on our vehicles.

Well, perhaps you get what you pay for... :X Here's my bumper, finally done: Rear 3/4 view Rear view Carrier open Class III hitch Hatch to tire carrier clearance

Yep. that would be the simplest option for you. You just need to specify H233B with a 4.636 ratio for any Pathfinder model year between 96-04. Being only 2WD, you're fortunate not to have to buy a front diff also!

Wow, fueler, I actually don't know whether yours came with 4.3 or 4.6 gears. The QX4 OEM tire size is between the early Pathfinder's 235/70R15 and 265/70R15. However, your original tires were approx 29" in diameter, whereas your new tires are 31.64, which are almost 10% larger. No wonder you're having problems. If you want to check for yourself to see which ratio you have, you'll need to chock the front wheels, raise the rear tires off the ground, put the tranny in Neutral, then mark the driveshaft. Rotate the tires exactly one full revolution (make sure both tires turn at the same speed), counting the number of driveshaft rotations. If the driveshaft turns more than 4-1/2 revolutions, you have 4.636 gears. If it's not quite 4-1/2 revolutions, then you have 4.363 gears.

Speaking of rear bumpers, mine is finally finished and installed! Yay! It was expensive, to be sure, but it looks great. I will upload photos tonight.

R50's have either 4.363 or 4.636 gearing. They don't have 4.375 or 4.625 like WD21's. The number of pinion and ring gear teeth is different between the older H233Bs and the later-model ones. And yes, if you have 4WD, then you need to regear both the front and rear axles.

Fueler, what size tires did it come with from the factory? (Should say on the door jamb, too.)

If you get bigger tires, such as 31x10.50R15, you will probably want to swap gears even if your speedometer were made accurate, since you'll notice a dramatic decrease in acceleration and performance. You can check to see if there are diffferent gears for the VSS (vehicle speed sensor). BTW, your 97 XE has 4.363 gears (48-tooth ring / 11-tooth pinion), not 4.375, and you would regear to 4.636 (51 ring / 11 pinion), not 4.625. The slight change in gear ratios started with the 96 model year.

The SGII connects to the OBDII connector under the dash. And yeah, you would have to get pretty creative to flush-mount it. One cool thing about the device is that it has connectors on the right side and back side (both do the same thing), so you can use whichever connector makes your installation look cleaner. In my Mazda, I use the right-side connector. In the Pathy, I use the rear connector.

And who makes A-pillar gauge pods that fit the R50?